Fragility and State-Society Relations in South Sudan

In the process of recovering from a ruinous civil conflict, Africa’s youngest country faces a variety of other trials: the threat of renewed conflict, localized ethnic-based insurgencies, a deepening humanitarian crisis, and weak governance structures, among others. Underlying all of these challenges are a weak national identity and fragile state-society relations, which have constrained a national dialogue on needed reforms. Trust and confidence in the government can be generated through a concerted effort to build inclusive coalitions of state and nonstate actors, expand independent media, and construct a rules-based, accountable foundation for the new state.